


anchor that i tie to my brain

by livtontea



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Klaus Hargreeves Has PTSD, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Light Angst, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Smoking, its late and im tired and i didnt check for typos sorry :'P
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:35:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28124730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livtontea/pseuds/livtontea
Summary: He twists the knob for hot water and unplugs the bath. Fuck. He’s naked and cold and the faucet’s running. With slightly shaking hands he lights a cigarette and takes a drag. He can feel the nicotine curl in his lungs.Klaus exhales.That’s better.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	anchor that i tie to my brain

**Author's Note:**

> [anonymous asked](https://zontiky.tumblr.com/post/637726211088465920/so-ummm-i-heard-a-rumor-that-you-wrote):
>
>> So,,, ummm,,,,, I heard a rumor that you wrote about Klaus and his PTSD because you’re an amazing and talented person,,,,
> 
> this is months late and quite short but i hope that's alright! a big thank you to the lovely [@profjamie20](https://profjamie20.tumblr.com/) for reading over this :) <3
> 
> fic title is from [the anchor - bastille](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbf-U6G9ndU)

The water is fucking cold.

“Damnit,” Klaus hisses through gritted teeth. He’s always hated the feeling of goose bumps on his skin. No matter how accustomed to the feeling he is.

He twists the knob for hot water and unplugs the bath. Fuck. He’s naked and cold and the faucet’s running. With slightly shaking hands he lights a cigarette and takes a drag. He can feel the nicotine curl in his lungs.

Klaus exhales.

That’s better.

The water heats quickly. It’s an old house, but it’s an old, big, _expensive_ house. Daddy dearest didn’t pay the big bucks for this place for it to have a shitty heater.

The steam that curls from the heating water makes him shiver. God, he fucking hates being cold.

“Bathtime,” he mutters to himself around the cig, and slips into the water. He presses play on the walkman and tugs the headphones over his ears, and then he’s floating.

He’s floating.

He’s… Klaus is floating.

He itches for a joint. But he promised, he promised--

Hm. Mm. Yeah. He sure did. Klaus takes another pull from the cigarette. It’d be nice to pop a pill right now, or two, or three. He used to love doing that whenever he had the chance. Floating away, high as hell, water covering his knees…

Yeah.

Klaus reaches over with his dry hand and turns up the walkman’s volume. If Ben were here…

_Don’t get too deep, Klaus._

Yeah, yeah! He’d say some of that sort of shit. And Klaus would tell him just because he made Klaus flip the pages on a self-help book for him that one time doesn’t mean he’s suddenly a mental health expert. Besides. He got plenty of that shit in therapy.

 _Self-help._ God. What a joke. God’s a joke too, but, Klaus doesn’t like to think about it.

Klaus doesn’t like to think about--

He rips off the headphones and slams his head under the water. Helicopters don’t fly underwater.

_God._

Fuck this.

Klaus reaches for the bathtub plug -- his hands are shaking, he ignores it -- and fumbles it out of the drain. The water swirls clear. He didn’t have time to add bubbles or use soap -- he doesn’t usually use soap when he takes a bath like this anyway. Baths aren’t meant for soap. Baths are for… soaking.

He hates sitting in dirty water.

Klaus sweeps a small puddle of water from himself. Watches it drip down the drain. Sighs.

He’s shivering. Alone and naked in the bathtub, the cold air prickling at his skin.

He tilts his head back and slowly puts the headphones back on. He wants to hear the end of this song. For another thirty seconds, he lays still in the bathtub.

The music stops and he pulls himself out from the comfort of the damp marble.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm on tumblr @zontiky, where i talk abt tua and take prompts sometimes! if you liked it feel free to leave a comment or reblog the tumblr post, and if you didn't, i do accept constructive criticism! <3


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